Mercedes faces an uncomfortable dash to qualifying after Andrea Kimi Antonelli crashed heavily in final practice for the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday, damaging the rear of his car and leaving the team with a major rebuild job.
The Italian teenager had looked assured through the opening stages of the Melbourne weekend and, in a Mercedes package that has shown clear pace since Friday, there had been reason to think he could feature strongly once the grid was decided. George Russell underlined that speed by ending FP3 on top for the team, reinforcing the view that Mercedes has arrived in Australia with a car capable of fighting near the front.
But Antonelli’s session unravelled in the closing stages when he lost the rear after riding the Turn 2 kerb. With around 10 minutes remaining, the Mercedes snapped away from him and hit the barrier hard enough to trigger red flags, ending any realistic chance of improving on what had been another encouraging run.
Kimi Antonelli into the barrier! 😱
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 7, 2026
Here's the sizeable crash which ended the Mercedes driver's FP3 👇#F1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/ZC1PrM1JE0
The impact was made worse by the nature of that section of Albert Park: there is little run-off there to bleed off speed, so once the car was gone, the wall arrived quickly. Conditions themselves were not especially troublesome, with track temperature at 37C, air temperature at 20C and very little wind, which only sharpened the focus on the error and the consequence.
Antonelli climbed out unassisted and returned to the Mercedes garage, where race engineer Peter Bonnington first checked that he was alright before the pair began going through the data. The live analysis from the session suggested he had not taken dramatically more kerb than several others had managed without issue.
That's a lot of damage on the Mercedes! 😳
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 7, 2026
Kimi Antonelli is out of the car and ok#F1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/kpKwdRtVvJ
Even so, the result was the same: substantial rear-end damage, a compressed repair window and fresh uncertainty over whether the car could be turned around in time for qualifying.
What had been shaping into a useful Saturday for Mercedes became split in two. Russell’s strong lappage strengthened the team’s case as a pole contender. On the other, Antonelli’s crash left the garage facing the kind of rebuild that can compromise preparation even if the car does make it back out.
